Adios Dos punto Dos!

Well, I have to admit that seeing my scale drop 2.2 pounds is enough to face the torture of another day in "starvation camp".


What?

Starvation?

Yup. That's right!

When I first heard about the HCG diet, I couldn't believe that people would actually maintain a 500 calorie a day diet. Cause lets face it. That is dangerous! It wasn't until I did the research and really understood how this diet works that I felt comfortable and confident with using the protocol for myself.

If you aren't familiar with how it works, let me shed some light. (Now don't you poke fun, cause I'm no Dr. Lee. This is how my brain understands it all!)

You know when a woman is pregnant? Well she creates the growth hormone which is HCG.



This hormone is a wonderful growth hormone which not only helps ensure that the pregnancy moves along, but acts as a protection to the growing fetus. Think about it. How do women, in 3rd world countries, who are malnourished, continue to give birth to healthy babies. The answer in part....hCG.

During the hCG diet, the hormone that you put into your system, for lack of a better description, allows your body to safely settle into borderline starvation mode. By having the hormone present in your body, it unlocks your abnormal fat stores so that your body is actually consuming not a measly 500 calories daily, but upwards of 3500 calories, since the average daily fat loss on this system is 1 pound. It's the release of the dangerous fat stores that allows your body to maintain the energy needed to go about your daily tasks.



Another beauty of hCG is it protects the normal and secondary fats, which are the good ones. It also protects muscle structure so that you will not see a breakdown of muscle, cause let's face it.....when you've got good guns, why would you want to lose em?



Now you may be asking yourself, "well if this is such a miracle hormone, why do pregnant women typically pack on the pounds". Sugar. Starches. They are the mortal enemies of hCG. In fact, according to Dr. Simeons, if you are not 100% committed to protocol, and sneak in those sugary and starchy treats then you are running the risk of gaining weight "at an alarming rate". And lets face it....I don't know about you mommies out there but when I was prego donuts and cheeseburgers were my friend! I'd be willing to bet if you looked at the diets of those super cute basket ball belly mommies that they maintained a healthy diet during pregnancy filled with fresh fruits and vegetables.



Another wonder of the hCG hormone is the HCG actually resets the Hypothalamus, which means that at the end of your diet phases, your weight is actually re-set. Of course if you begin eating junk all of the time you will re-gain weight, but isn't that the same with any diet?

So for now, I'm managing my energy levels just fine...in fact even did an actual chin up for my first time ever last night. Also threw in a few minutes of crunches and push ups. My demon right now is trying to put the thoughts of starches and sugar out of my mind. I know it will be worth it! And hopefully I will train myself to have healthier eating habits, cause let's face it, starvation camp just isn't worth submitting to just to pack it all back on!



Even though it's been mentally tough, I expect it to get easier. It's nice however, since this diet doesn't come without an ounce of entertainment, cause if my husband were to take a pregnancy test.....well.....




Nuff said.

:0)